End of year is always very exciting for me, because I get to sum up the passing year, and plan for the future. The thrill of new beginnings and opportunities is real.
I always thought that working on your New Year’s resolutions and failing to accomplish all of them will still get you further than not setting up resolutions at all. It is hard to reach something you are not aiming at. Therefore setting up some goals is important (and fun).
So these are my postdoc New Year’s resolutions:
1. I will learn new research method this year
There is always some new (or established) method which would be good to have under your belt, but is not related to the immediate field of expertise, so there is never time for it, unless you consciously challenge yourself.
2. I will master one new statistical concept this year
Step by step, I climb the ladder of statistics. Hard work it is, but definitely rewording.
3. I will invest in relationships
The longer I am in academia, the more I believe that any success in this environment is based on relationships; relationships with students, your research team, support staff, other researchers, health professionals, patients and general public.
Connecting with people I already know is always enjoyable for me. Connecting with people I do not know, especially the ones I admire, was always a struggle. This year I will make an effort to connect with others in the field, go to a conference, send more ‘thank you’ notes, and engage more in social media.
4. I will set up a healthy schedule/lifestyle
A healthy day for me is composed of family time, work, physical activity, healthy eating and optimal sleep length. I am probably failing at least at half of these weekly, if not daily, so this year I will make an effort to discipline myself.
The good news is that there is a huge room for improvement. The bad news is that it is not like I have not tried before – it takes work of changing the bad habits. Anyhow, keep your fingers crossed as the lifestyle is the base for accomplishing every other goal.
5. I will set up an outreach plan
Being in a lab or office all day, doing work mostly in my own head, can be a lonely experience. This is amplified by the fact that I am abroad where my support networks are both new and scarce.
During this holiday season I have started this blog, but I am also thinking about setting up another blog. The new blog would be related to the topic of exercise and injury risk reduction in female athletes. I am also considering doing more on Twitter or Instagram.
6. I will come up with my dream job
It is not so easy to be competitive on a job market straight after a PhD, or even after the first postdoc. But I also think that I have changed so much throughout my PhD and while becoming a mum that my view on an ideal job has also changed.
So this year I will spend a little bit of time defining my dream job and what I really want from my career.
7. I will make a plan for the future (20 years)
It is easy to get caught up in a day-to-day experiments, manuscript reviews and various deadlines, and loose side of the real goal. As I said in the intro, you have to aim first, to even have a chance of reaching your goal.
I don’t actually think that the aims I will come up with now, will necessary be the ones I will achieve in the next 20 years; they will probably change. It does not matter though, as this exercise will allow me get to know myself better.
8. I will dare to start the project which I have always wanted to do, but did not have a chance to realise
There are always projects that are not going to be founded, will take long time (too long for a postdoc), or are against current “trends”. I will make the first steps in realising the one of these projects.
Postdoc for me is still about learning and development, but I start to see what things I would like to do in my career. Sadly, some of them seem to not quite fit into this whole “academia” mode. But that is a topic for the some other blog post. What are your resolutions for the New Year?